Linkage of faiths in YMCA in Jerusalem

An excellent article from NY Times:  The linkage of faith at YMCA in Jerusalem

His plan is to keep promoting tolerance, at the YMCA and beyond. Recently he went to Morocco to give a talk, as a Palestinian Arab, on the horrors of the Holocaust. He speaks frequently on the need for understanding "the other."

In the long term, he hopes to be able to build business relationships between Israelis and Arabs. "That would be my ticket to a greater vision," he says, "of a new Middle East, interdependent and interconnected."

If Forsan Hussein won't give up, how can we?

It's great to see that tolerance still exists and gives us hope for the future.

Saudi Hacker targeting Israeli accounts

Looks like there is a Saudi Hacker targeting Israeli accounts.

I have to really say, politically motivated or not, Hacking is hacking and you need to take responsibility for your own data security.  It appears that he is an individual, not government related.

There are lots of crooks out there.  I'm sure there is Israeli ones also.  So, nothing new to see here .. moving on.

Ukraine synagogue firebombed for second time in two months

This is scary.  Could be any synagogue in the world.

http://www.jewishbayside.com/news/article_cdo/aid/1730226/jewish/Ukraine-Synagogue-Firebombed-Again.htm

Hamas say Gaza no longer occupied, UN disagree

Interesting article from JPost.  Apparently Gaza is only occupied when it suits Hamas.

Hamas is rearming

Whale Oil has a link to show Hamas rockets and the targets within Israel.  The source is the IDF Blog

United or Divided Future?

The United Future Party in New Zealand state:

We aim to build a modern multicultural society

which encourages social harmony and unity through respect for individual differences and cultural diversity;

However, United Future's East Coast Candidate (and #10 on their list), Martin Gibson seems to have other ideas:

You say the orthodox Jews are like the Taliban which is true, but what you fail to note is how similar Zionists are to Nazis.

Really?  Like Nazis?  Martin Gibson appears to justify himself by referencing Gilad Atzmon as his only reference.  As a journalist, surely he knows that you must grant comment from others as a right of reply.  Instead he references quotes from just one estranged individual, and with little supporting evidence.  So really he is just forcing his own opinion on us, with the fallback of "Hey, this Jew said it, so its OK".

Mr Gibson's comment appears to fail the Natan Sharansky 3D Rule of Anti Semitism.  It's a great example of Demonisation without any examples whatsoever.  We can be sure that he is the same Martin Gibson that writes as a journalist for the Gisborne Herald.

Now, I'm sure the usual suspects can come out and make the usual generalistic "Anti Zionist" comments.  Mr Gibson is welcome to be one of them.  My question is, how does this position fit in with United Future?  Mr Dunne??

Beit Shemesh - in the words of religious men

My friend David, who is a religious Jew, had this to say about Beit Shemesh.
Michael Lawrence, Israel speaker, agreed on facebook with a poster that said it's a Chillul Hashem (desecration of the name).

It's hard not to agree with both  here.  For the record, I find the actions of the Haredi at Beit Shemesh disgusting and disgraceful.  Government leaders and Rabbonim have all condemned this.  There have been mass protests, and I believe it is all long overdue.

One thing that is positive, is that these Charedi are not representative of all Charedi (a fact lost to the press).  All religions have their extremists, but I think its wrong to compare to extremists of other religions who kill people in the name of God and rule entire countries, putting down all rebellion.  These extremists are not even on the same page as that.